Hi everyone, today let’s look at selected eBay auctions in March and April, along with results from Pedigree Comics’ OA auction in April!

eBay Auctions – March & April 2017

Original comic art auctions on eBay mainly consist of sub-$1,000 items, with some falling into the $1k-$2k bracket, and a handful going higher than that. Below are some pieces which caught my eye recently, including a few higher-value items.

Spawn #42, cover by Tony Daniel & Kevin Conrad – Sold for $3,566 in April 2017

$3.6k seems reasonable for a Daniel cover from this earlier part of the title, given that a Greg Capullo/Danny Miki cover from Spawn #148 went for $8.6k on ComicLink last year. This piece was sold by Sparkle City Comics, which periodically offers some of the higher quality OA on eBay (and obtains strong prices for their items).

Preacher #53, page 8 by Steve Dillon – Sold for $1,309 in April 2017

This half-splash of the titular Jesse Custer fetched about market rate, going by other recent sales of artwork from the series. Preacher OA has already appreciated nicely in value, due to AMC’s TV show, and prices could escalate further if season 2 is a hit.

$2.9k is a fair price for this great action page containing multiple panels of Mojo, Spiral and the hero in action. It also sits in line with the pricing precedent set by that Longshot #1 title splash which recently sold for $14.3k, and was discussed in my report on the February 2017 HA Signature Auction.

E.V.E. Protomecha #1, variant cover by David Finch & Joe Weems – Sold for $5,316.76 in March 2017

Aphrodite IX #3, variant cover by David Finch & Joe Weems – Sold for $4,827 in March 2017

These two variant covers went for strong amounts, given that they feature lower-profile characters. However, their high hammer prices are entirely understandable, once you take into account the fact that they’re drawn by fan-favourite Finch (whose modern OA values have largely surpassed those of his mentor, Marc Silvestri). Furthermore, these two pieces are a perfect illustration of how in the male-dominated world of OA collecting, images of healthy ladies in alluring attire tend to fetch high prices!

The seller of these X-23 #2 pages is making a killing, perfectly timing their sales with the hype and adoration heaped on the Logan movie and its pint-sized killer clone! From the above examples, you can see how hammer prices have been exponentially increasing since mid-March 2017 (Logan was released early-March).

Side Note: Similar to comic books, prices for OA which has increased in value due to movie-associated excitement normally peak right before said movie is released. However, the above X-23 examples illustrate that for particularly well-received movies or characters, prices can continue climbing after the movie’s out and maybe even remain at that elevated level for the long term!

Walking Dead #69, page 7 by Charlie Adlard – Sold for $218.50 in March 2017

Walking Dead #74, page 15 by Charlie Adlard – Sold for $250 in March 2017

The market for Adlard WD OA appears to be softening, with these talking-head pages (which WD comprises largely of) fetching $250 and below. There were even a couple of decent pages which fetched $138.38 and $177.50 in February 2017! Perhaps the continued monthly output of WD OA (on larger art board to boot), combined with lower overall interest in the franchise (as evidenced by its falling TV ratings), are starting to drag prices for small-art Adlard WD OA back to earth?

Invincible #61, page 9 by Ryan Ottley – Sold for $157.64 in March 2017

With the apparent confirmation of an Invincible movie earlier this month, prices for artwork from the comic books may begin to rise in the build-up to its silver screen adaptation. Invincible OA remains relatively affordable, with (pencil-only) costumed-hero panel pages going for around $150, half-splashes for $250 and full splashes for $400. It remains to be seen whether the movie announcement has had any impact on OA values, as these sales all took place before the news came out.

Pedigree Comics Original Art Auction – 13 April 2017

Pedigree Comics is a newcomer to the OA auction scene, although they’re well-established in the comic book arena. Their previous OA auctions were dominated by unsold lots, due to unrealistically high reserves placed on most of the items, and this one was no different (I estimate at least 80% of items went unsold). Hopefully they change tack quickly, as it would be nice to see a serious new competitor in the OA auction field (along with HA, CLink and ComicConnect). Most of the pieces which sold in this auction were lower-value items, but there were a few other notable sales which I’ll discuss below.

Marvel Feature #1, page 18 by Ross Andru & Bill Everett – $5,450

I’d say this is a fair result for an action-filled page from the 1st Appearance issue of the Defenders featuring all three team members, with an exceptionally strong first panel. Interest in the Defenders (this original version not the Netflix one) could soon rise, as it appears an MCU incarnation of the team will feature in Thor: Ragnarok (replacing Namor with Thor)!

Here’s an extremely interesting three-page sequence. Frank Giacoia (penciller) and Jack Abel (inker) are the officially-attributed artists for this back-up story. Pedigree’s description of page 6 above states that Alex Saviuk and John Romita (inks) were ghosting for Giacoia, but no mention of such for the other two pages. Peculiarly, page 5, which Pedigree attributed as Romita’s pencils, sold for $800 less than the other two Saviuk-attributed pages! Given the murky origins of these pages, it’s hard to make a call on their true values, but they seem to have fetched strong prices nonetheless.